Historic corruption ruling against Argentina’s VP may put a chill on US-Argentina ties | Opinion

The historic ruling condemning Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner — the power behind the throne in her country — to six years in prison for corruption will probably put a chill on recent U.S. efforts to improve ties with Argentina’s populist government.

The Biden administration had been going out if its way in recent months to sway Argentina into the Western diplomatic community, after President Alberto Fernandez — not related to the vice-president but hand-picked by her — went to Moscow in February and offered his country as an “entry door” for Russia in Latin America.

The Argentine government has also been flirting with China, in addition to backing several Latin American dictatorships. At the same time, it has been asking Washington for help to avoid a new default on its massive foreign debts.

But after Tuesday’s court verdict against Fernandez de Kirchner, there are growing calls — mostly from right-wing Republicans, but also from key Democrats — to seek distance from her and perhaps, by extension, from the country’s government.

Congressman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who is likely to become chairman of the House of Representatives’ foreign affairs committee when the new Congress convenes in January, is already asking for U.S. sanctions against Argentina’s vice-president.

“Between Cristina Kirchner’s widely known collusion with Iran and now conviction for ‘one of the most extraordinary corruption schemes’ in Argentine history, President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken must urgently designate under 7031(c) sanctions,” McCaul wrote Tuesday in the House Foreign Affairs’ GOP twitter account.

He was referring to a U.S. law whereby the U.S. State Department must deny U.S. visas to individuals involved in significant corruption or gross violation of human rights.

The law has been most recently used earlier this year against Paraguay’s vice president, Hugo Velazquez, former Paraguayan President Horacio Manuel Cortes and Ecuador’s former president, Abdalá Bucaram.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had already sent a letter to Blinken in August, calling for “mandatory sanctions” against Fernandez de Kirchner and her immediate family members in connection with the corruption charges that led to her conviction.

Top congressional Democrats have not yet asked for sanctions but are increasingly critical of Argentina’s government corruption.

Senate Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Tim Kaine told me in an email, without mentioning Fernandez de Kirchner by name, that “just as we are honest with our enemies, we must also be open with our friends — especially on the need to ensure greater government transparency and accountability.”

Fernandez de Kirchner, who served as president from 2007 to 2015, was sentenced to prison and banned from running for public office for illegally granting bids for public works worth more than $925 million to a front man. She can still appeal her sentence, and is not likely to go to jail anytime soon, because the appeals process can take years.

On April 26, Fernandez de Kirchner had met and posed for smiling pictures at her office with U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Laura Richardson.

Earlier this week, Argentina and the United States signed a mutual agreement for exchange of financial information. Argentina’s government has tried to portray it as an unprecedented deal, although U.S. sources tell me it’s not as far-reaching as the Argentine government paints it.

Most people I talked to in Washington told me that the Biden administration is unlikely to apply sanctions on Fernandez de Kirchner, even if we may see fewer smiling pictures of U.S. officials with her.

Benjamin Gedan, acting director of the Washington-based Wilson Center’s Latin America program and a former White House official, told me that “fundamentally, the Biden administration doesn’t want another enemy in the region. It has picked fights with Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador and others. It does not want to add another adversary to the list.”

That’s probably true. But, on the other hand, the administration is bound by law to impose personal sanctions on corrupt foreign officials.

Is it fair to impose sanctions on current and former top officials of relatively smaller countries like Paraguay and Ecuador, while looking the other way on public servants who are convicted felons in Argentina, Brazil or Mexico?

It sounds like political hypocrisy. Perhaps it’s time to either scrap the law or to start applying it to people like Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show on Sundays at 7 pm E.T. on CNN en Español. Twitter: @oppenheimera

This story was originally published December 7, 2022 at 4:58 PM.